My Very Own Thumble

While we were in S. Carolina, Donovan picked out a present for me - my very own thumble. He also got one for himself, “mine is better but I thought you’d like the flower more.” He’s not wrong! 

(Because it goes on your thumb. Duh. 😂)

Donovan has started regular horse pony riding lessons at a local farm. On the first day, he called - very excited - to tell us his horse walked and then ‘ran’. “It was scary but I got used to it pretty fast.” 

They also did a trail ride into the ‘jungle’, where he heard lots of birds. He looks so big on that pony! He must have grown a foot since we dropped him off.

Received pretty pics from Rachel - ‘Baby is sewing a dress. Awwwww.’ - 

followed immediately by a text from Cyrus - ‘the thread is bunching! Why is the thread bunching!? Grandmaaaaaaaa help!’

Multiple texts, links to 2 articles and a few illustrations later, problem solved and dress finished. Happy Baby (and Grandma, who was thrilled to be able to help long-distance). 

Leo sent pics of their first baby turkeys ⬆️ and another batch of about a dozen baby chicks.⬇️

She said one of the bigger chicks escaped its enclosure and survived a few days on the lam before deciding life was better with security and free food. It was waiting at the gate when she went out that morning with feed. 😂

Plant Chores, Fun and Not So Much

Starting with the not so fun plant chores…

this Crown of Thorns sits beside our front porch and over the years has gotten a tad overgrown. We’ve been avoiding dealing with it because… look at those spikes!

But it was on my must-do list and tomorrow is trash day, so hubby and I chopped it back as close to the pot as we could get. Marie, my phone-a-friend, what-the-heck-is-this expert, says the white milky sap is irritating if it gets in your eye but not toxic to adults.

Plant on the right is a giant rosemary (the herb) that also loves this spot

Do I care if we killed it? Nope! Although I think it’ll take more than pruning to get the better of it. I’m ok if it grows back - hubby really likes the flowers - but we’ll keep a better eye on it going forward. 

There’s something about this spot that plants really like. 

This Aeonium Kiwi (yes I had to ask Marie what it was…) and the Crown of Thorns obviously busted through those blue ceramic pots we had them in and rooted into the ground. This one I like! Planning to take cuttings and hopefully get more of this growing in the yard. 

The fun plant chore? Replanting the amaryllis bulbs Gary and Cheyenne gave me in December. I was able to cut the plastic cover from the small bulb (white flower) 

but I had to call in The Tool Man to get the big one apart (red flower). I forgot to get a picture, but the bigger bulb has a pup/baby/tiny bulb forming near the roots. 

Hoping these survive and I can get 3 - or more - flowers for the holidays. 

100 Days Update - #12 is Done!

Rachel’s 100 days of cross-stitch project is moving right along. It’s going to be spectacular.

Finished #12 on my 100 days project. Only 8 to go (or 4, depending on how big I want the finished quilt to be). 

Been thinking more about how I want to sew this together and quilt it. 

The pattern that came with the kit has sashing between the blocks, which I like. But maybe add embroidery on the sashing? Or on the cornerstones? I think there’s time before 100 days ends… Time to go window shopping for more stick-on embroidery ideas.

March Winter Wonderland

Teena and I FaceTimed today to continue our FPP Winter Wonderland project.

This month was ‘Mittens’ by Full Bobbin Designs* (website here), a fun, easy pattern. “Easy” didn’t stop us from making some silly - but fixable! - mistakes…

I kept with the winter Christmasy theme

but Teena picked these dragonflies on a black background. So cute!

Crummy picture, will try for a better one tomorrow 

This makes block #12, out of how many you ask? Don’t know! We have blocks for the next 2 months already picked out. We’ll probably keep going until another project catches our block-a-month fancy. Still planning a finished Wonderland quilt by Christmas…

* This is our 4th block by Full Bobbin Designs and next month will be #5. We really like her designs and her patterns.

Back to the Birds

I didn’t really want to work on the Birdwatchers Project today but once I got started, December’s Northern Flicker turned out to be fun. 

I only made one big mistake - 

sewing the completed bottom section sideways onto the top sections. Oops! At least it was easy to fix. (Funny enough, it fit perfectly…)

That one circled area bugs me. I double-triple checked and it is done correctly. But it looks so wrong, like a piece is missing or the wrong fabric was used, and keeps catching my eye… 😩

This makes 8 birds complete, out of 14 total. I’m still 3 birds behind so tonight I started block #9, 

choosing the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, a small bird that I thought would be easy. Not so much.

The first piece is about 5.5” long by 1.75” at the widest point. The head section is .5” tall by 1.5” wide… and uses ELEVEN different pieces to shape the eye and beak. 

Yeah, small definitely doesn’t mean easy. 

Things I Learned Today

The Yum, the Yuck and the Beautiful - 

Yummmm - I’m a sucker for stories that promise “try this for the best <insert fav baked goods> ever!” But occasionally one pans out (see what I did there?) and today was that day. 

From a chef on Instagram: make the chocolate chip cookie recipe that's on the chip bag but stir in a handful of well-crushed potato chips at the end. And sprinkle a little kosher salt on the baking sheet before scooping on the dough. I did it for a laugh - and the grandgirls laughed at me when I told them the new recipe - but it really did give the cookies more depth of flavor. Who knew?!

Before…

Yuck - replacing our home network modem/router/wifi equipment hasn’t gotten any easier or more fun. Our internet provider offers ‘self-install’ but promised ‘easy, thorough, step-by-step instructions.’ Riiiiiiiight. 

 After. Biggest difference is more hanging wires…

It took me all afternoon and half the evening to get it done. I’d probably still be at it but I got frustrated, said “f*** it”, plugged everything together where I wanted, and dared it not to work. Bonus - I got my steps in going up and down the ladder 50 bazillion times. 

 Lush Anthurium 

Beautiful - Hubby came back from his second home (Home Depot) with a couple more pretty plants. 

This one was labeled as a bromeliad but the internet says it’s a Pink Quill air-plant, Latin name Tillandsia cyanea or Wallisia cyanea (new classification). They often have a pink spike with little purple blossoms but I like the red just as well.  

The last time I tried growing a bromeliad it became Lily Kitty’s favorite chew toy. Hoping to have better luck with this one. 

Repotting, Plus 100 Days

Block #11 of 20 is complete and #12 is halfway done. Love how doing a little each night is getting this so close to the finish line.

Before Matt started giving me fancy plants, like this pretty thing,

 Aglaonema, aka Chinese Evergreen

I only had a few plants that had survived my black thumb. The two money trees and African violet have been repotted so it was time to do the poor, sad orchid I bought a while back for hubby, and a snake plant that hasn’t grown much in years. Gotta admit I repotted both of these mostly for the practice, although I really hope they survive.

Tiny rootball looks so dry and sad. The pot will be repurposed as a cover for one of the clear pots.

Separating orchid and pot was a pain. The moss was adhered to the sides like it had been glued in. 

After rinsing off the old mossy soil and trimming back its dried out roots, the plant turned out to have a few, very short but (hopefully) viable roots. 

Doesn’t she look better already? Lol. Love these clear pots - so great for observing (crossing my fingers) new root growth. 

The snake plant looked dormant - the one stem it had left (red arrow) hadn’t grown in a long time - so I put it outside on the front porch 2-ish years ago. Imagine my surprise when it *loved* the new environment and produced a pretty little pup. 

The old leaf still wasn’t growing but the pup has gone from a tiny sprout to 3 happy, healthy leaves. Anything that tries that hard deserves another chance to live.

It’s repotted but in quarantine for a week or so to be sure no hitchhikers came indoors with her.

New Babies!

Even though I did the research and watched all the videos, I really didn’t believe this would work. 

Remember the big, wonky money tree I chopped wayyyyy back in an effort to save it and encourage new growth?

It worked! There’s at least 4 shoots starting. So exciting!

And the African violet I divided, keeping the mother plant and 8 babies (plus 3 leaves potted in soil and 4 leaves I’m trying to root in water)?

So many new leaves! 

All 8 re-plants are doing well and have put out new growth. Of the 3 individual soil-potted leaves, 2 are looking good and growing new roots. The water-based leaves aren’t doing anything yet but they supposedly take longer to root. 

I’m glad I checked them today - the wick watering system was working a little too well. All the babies were looking water-logged so they’ll dry out for a bit before I put new wicks back in. 

Crossing fingers they all continue to thrive.